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Australia

The Commercial Building Disclosure program came into effect on 1 November 2010. Transitional arrangements were in place for the first year of operation. On 1 November 2011 full disclosure arrangements came into effect. This means that a Building Energy Efficiency Certificate(BEEC) must be obtained by a building owner or lessor when commercial office space with a net lettable area over 2,000 square meters is advertized for sale or lease. A BEEC is composed of three elements: 1) A NABERS Energy star rating for the building 2) An assessment of tenancy lighting in the area of the building that is being sold or leased 3) General energy efficiency guidance The Commercial Building Disclosure program is a legislative program underpinned by the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act (2010). Civil penalty regimes apply for non-compliant properties.

The Secretary may grant an exemption from an energy efficiency disclosure obligation:
(a) if the building, or the area of the building, in relation to which the obligation would otherwise apply is used for police or security operations; or
(b) if, because of the characteristics of the building or the area of the building in relation to which the obligation would otherwise apply, it is not possible to assign an energy efficiency rating to the building, or assess the energy efficiency of lighting of the building or the area of the building in accordance with assessment methods and standards determined under section 21; or
(c) in a case of any other class prescribed by the regulations.

Reporting:

Required Reporting:

No

Utility Requirements/Support:

Utility Requirements/Support:

No

Verification:

Verification:

No

Compliance:

Compliance Enforcement:

Yes

Policy Description:

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) 2010 requires a minimum 6-star NatHERS rating for new residential houses and apartments. This standard was phased in on individualized time-frames for Australian states and territories. There are other largely voluntary rating programs in use in Australia, most of which are designed and monitored at the state and territory level. In addition, there are numerous energy rating tools which are used in compliance with national home energy rating standards.

Compliance:

Jurisdiction Updates

Some benchmarking news that was in the works for a while, but finally went public yesterday – an Australian government sponsored review of the national law requiring offices to benchmark and disclose energy performance at time of sale or lease via a NABERS rating concluded that